One and Only
by garyprestons
Summary: Post 3x05 Three Little Words.


_Hello to you viewers! Make yourselves comfortable. But try and keep it down - Stevie's passed out on the sofa. She got a bit too carried away. Not sure whether it was the three vodka cranberries or the Take That karaoke party. But I wasn't joking about getting comfortable - this may take a while. Previously in my life, I found out Mike had been offered a job in Africa. Mum was convinced he was going to propose, but instead he's taking off to another country. Oh, and I finally told Gary I loved him. Well, more accurately, I shouted it at him in the middle of the restaurant. Oh, and I kissed Gary Barlow! Anyway, I've made a huge mess of things, and - Hang on just a tickety-mundo, someone's at the door. Ooooh, how exciting! A gentleman caller, at this hour?_

The restaurant was quiet, finally. After Miranda had left, he'd had to endure another two hours of tending the bar, serving food, mingling with his guests, and trying not to come off a total fool in front of Raymond Blanc and Gary Barlow. And he'd had to do it with his head full of emotions from what had happened with Miranda. After she'd confessed to him that she was in love with him, and while he was still frozen in shock, had marched over to Gary Barlow and snogged the breath out of the poor man.

If he hadn't been so completely confused and stunned at the moment, he would have been cheering her on along with the rest of the crowd; her impulsiveness and flagrant lack of care about what others thought of her was one of the reasons he loved her.

Of course he loved her. He'd realized it the night they agreed to sleep together and see if anything happened as a result. Because when she'd intertwined her fingers with his for the first time, looking across the table at him with candlelight flickering between them, he had never wanted anything to happen so desperately in his life. They'd been dancing around the idea for so long; he'd caught her looking at him when she didn't think he could see, and he constantly found himself stealing glances of his own. They were drawn together, inexplicably, and something needed to happen.

But he loved her. Watching her fall in love with Mike had been the most painful torture he'd ever endured, because she had been so happy. There hadn't been any conflict, any tension - it had been so simple. Uncomplicated. Exactly the opposite of his own relationship with Miranda.

Earlier in the evening, when he'd served Penny her pudding, she'd asked him if Miranda had come back.

"No, she ran off... I'd go after her, but..."

"Whatever is going on between you two, I really hope you sort it out. Miranda is enough of a handful on a regular day, but when she's down she's positively unbearable. You know, I always knew she had a bit of a crush on you, Gary. She's an open book when it comes to you. But I did like Mike, and I thought he was an excellent alternative."

"Sorry, was? Did they actually break up, then?" Gary asked. He hadn't really believed Miranda when she'd told him, only because he didn't dare let himself get his hopes up. They'd seemed so besotted the last time he had seen them.

"He got a job offer in America or Australia or Antarctica or one of those places," Penny sighed, stirring her pudding with her spoon absently while she talked. "And he was all set to propose, you know. Even asked her father for permission."

Gary froze for a moment before he found his voice. "But they've only been dating for a month!"

Penny laughed and took a drink of wine. "Maybe he was banking it for the future. Or maybe he just knew she was the one."

Someone beckoned for Gary's attention, and he quickly made to excuse himself, but Penny grabbed his arm before he could get too far.

"I know my daughter, Gary. She's terrible with being direct. But what she told you was the absolute truth."

"Yeah, I... Thanks," Gary stammered, and hurried off to the table across the room, his mind racing.

The rest of the night passed in a blur, and by the time the last customer had left, he was physically and emotionally exhausted. He cleaned up the restaurant as much as he could before finally throwing down the dishcloth in frustration. This was supposed to be the most important night of his life, the start of something new, and instead he felt like he was trapped in a neverending loop of self-sabotage. More than anything, he wanted to talk to her, but would she even want anything to do with him? She'd poured her heart out to him and he'd said... nothing. Brilliant.

Which was how he ended up outside Miranda's flat just past midnight, rapping quietly on the door with his knuckles. She probably wasn't even awake, it was late and she liked her nine hours. This was a bad idea, she would probably just slam the door in his face anyway -

The door opened and before he could turn away and leave she was standing there, wearing pajamas and a look of surprise on her face.

"Gary? What are you doing here?"

"I know it's late, I'm sorry," he apologized. "Look, I just need a minute. That's it. Can I come in?"

She offered him a small smile, holding the door open for him. He heard it close behind them as he walked into her flat; the lights were mostly off except for the lamp in the living area. He moved to sit on the sofa and yelped when he almost sat on Stevie, who was curled up at one end covered in a flowered blanket.

"Oh, don't worry about waking her. She sleeps like the dead. Look." Miranda clapped her hands an inch from Stevie's face, and the petite blonde merely let out a small snore and didn't move. Miranda adjusted the blanket over her friend's shoulders; it was actually rather sweet, Gary thought. "I didn't have the heart to try and move her to the bedroom. She's like a drunken little elf."

"So you two have patched things up, then?" Gary asked.

She opened her mouth to answer, but then she frowned at him and stalked over to the kitchen to fill the kettle. Confused, he followed her.

"What do you want, Gary? It's past midnight, obviously you didn't come up here for tea and small talk," she pointed out rather accurately.

He sat down at the kitchen table, silently making it clear that he wasn't going anywhere until he'd said what he needed to say, and she sighed quietly.

"Look, Miranda, about tonight..." he started, and immediately he saw her deflate in front of him, though her back was to him and he couldn't see her face. Her shoulders dropped and her voice was soft.

"You don't have to say anything. I'm so sorry I ruined your big night. I know how important it was to you. I just..." By now the kettle was whistling, and she poured them each a cup before walking back over to the table. "We just can't seem to get the timing right, can we?"

"We're a bit rubbish at it," Gary agreed, relieved when she sat down at the table next to him. "The truth is, I wanted you there tonight because of how important it was." He looked down at the tea in his cup for a long moment. Simple. Keep it simple, don't make it complicated, he thought to himself, before he finally looked up at met her gaze. Her eyes were kind, and she was leaning slightly toward him, curious to hear what he had to say.

"I wanted you to be there because... because I want you to be at all the important parts in my life. You're so important to me, Miranda, and I know I've never been good at telling you what I'm thinking or how I feel. And I wish I weren't such a disaster with words, I really do."

"What exactly are you trying to say, Gary?" she asked, and oh, she is cheeky, he thought with a grin. He had a feeling she knew exactly what he'd been trying to say. But he was going to tell her all the same, because it was so over long overdue and she deserved to hear it from him, tonight, tomorrow, every single day after that.

He reached across the table for her hand; it felt warm and soft and her fingers fit between his so perfectly. Over on the sofa, Stevie let out another muffled snore, and Gary was acutely aware that they weren't entirely alone.

"Um, what I'm getting at is that-" Try as he might, he couldn't find the right words to explain to her how much he loved her, how she made him feel everyday. The words were on the tip of his tongue, but every time he tried to string them together it never sounded good enough. The silence between them stretched into minutes, the only sound being Stevie's occasional snuffle and Miranda's teaspoon clinking against her cup as she stirred in another heaping pile of sugar.

"D'you think Stevie would kill me if I drew a moustache on her face with marker?" Miranda asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

He felt his jaw drop in shock and confusion. "What are you... what does that have to do with anything?" he demanded, frustrated, and Miranda simply sipped at her tea, her eyes twinkling over the edge of her cup.

"Sorry, I just hate awkward pauses, don't you? I mean, the situation is already humiliating enough as it is-"

"Miranda, I-"

"-but now we're back to avoiding the subject entirely, so I thought-"

"Miranda, can you-"

"I thought well, obviously we're not going to talk about it tonight, but we're still sitting here drinking tea, so I might as well try and keep the conversation going-"

It took him less than a second to pull her out of her chair and into his arms, covering her mouth with his own and stopping the sentence before she could finish it as he kissed her like he'd wanted to for what felt like forever. He felt her gasp against him and then instantly relax as soon as she realized he wouldn't let her fall no matter how wobbly her knees got. Her hands were trapped against him, curling into the front of his shirt, pressed against his chest. She tasted like tea and sugar and when he gently pulled away to breathe, she sighed his name and suddenly it was so easy, so simple, so obvious.

"Miranda, I'm crazy about you. I'm in love with you." Her eyes fluttered open in surprise, her expression still adorably dazed from the snog. "Everything about you makes life funnier, sillier, brighter. I've felt that way about you for a long time, and I'm so sorry I didn't tell you that tonight." As he spoke, he felt her hands sliding over his chest and up to his shoulders, one wrapping around the back of his neck, fingers buried in his hair.

"Is this finally happening?" she breathed, amazed, her smile infectious, and he grinned back at her, pulling her close to him once more.

This time she was the one who kissed him, pressing her body gently to his, and he swallowed when he felt she wasn't wearing a bra, and her pajama shirt had ridden up her back to expose her bare skin to his hands.

He started to back them over to the sofa before he remembered Stevie was still sleeping there, and they froze in the middle of the kitchen together, trying not to make a sound in case she woke up.

"Bedroom?" he suggested, then immediately realized how it sounded. "Sorry, I mean, that's a bit quick, isn't it..."

Miranda's grin widened, and she glanced over at the sleeping Stevie before grabbing Gary's hand and pulling him towards her bedroom. As soon as the door was closed, they were kissing again with more passion and certainty than before, and he felt her start to unbutton his shirt.

"You sure?" he whispered against her parted lips, and she nodded her head just slightly, not wanting to break the kiss, and pushed his shirt off of his shoulders. As they tumbled down onto her bed together, he heard her happy giggle and pulled his lips from her collarbone long enough to glance up at her face.

"Sorry, it's just that I'm kind of hoping Stevie hears us. Payback for the time she slept with my old French teacher and-"

"Can we not talk about Stevie right now?" Gary asked, hiding his laughter against her, and he felt her fingers trace a lazy path up his spine in response.

"Right, got it. As you were," she murmured happily, and as he leaned up to cover her body with his own and kiss her again, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tightly to her.

"I love you," she said quietly.

And this time, his response was automatic, as easy as breathing:

"I love you, too."


End file.
